What Do We Have For You This Month?

Welcome to “The Talk of The Town” for July, 2026. Click on the following links to find:

West End News & Notes: … A reminder that we should be watering our local trees, the Stop 2030 Barclay campaign is back in high gear, and Canada Post has issued a new stamp honouring West End bookstore Little Sisters.
West End Street & Lane Names: … Vancouver’s streets and lanes each has their own history. This month we feature Jepson-Young Lane.
Hidden Treasure Hunt: Be the first to email us identifying the location of this West End “Hidden Treasure” and win your choice of a $50 coffee shop gift card.
West End / Coal Harbour In The News: In case you missed it, here’s a round-up of news stories from our community.

West End News & Notes

WATER THOSE THIRSTY TREES

Editor’s Note: As we prepare to launch the July issue it’s raining out there and looks like it will continue for a few more days. But it won’t last, and this update on taking care of our neighbourhood trees is timely.

by Glenda Bartosh

Facing one of the driest, warmest years in ages, it's more important than ever to keep our beautiful West End trees healthy. Besides the obvious pleasure they provide, they can lower surrounding temperatures by as much as 10-12 C!

**DON’T LET THE WATER BAGS ON YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD TREES RUN DRY.**

For now, Metro Vancouver has enforced Stage 3 water restrictions, which means we can water trees, shrubs, flowers and plants with hand-held hoses and spring-loaded nozzles, containers, or drip irrigation anytime. But cool morning or evening hours are best. No sprinklers or soaker hoses allowed. Vegetable gardens can be watered any time.

City of Surrey has excellent watering tips for trees posted on its website They advise watering trees for 15 minutes twice a week. A good method for older trees is to use hose water running slowly to soak the entire ground from the tree trunk to the tree's dripline. Also, be sure to fill any water bags on smaller trees twice a week, or use the hose method to cover the dripline area.

With the current drought conditions, soil gets hydrophobic. That means even if it rains, or you just water a bit, the water doesn't soak in. Instead, it just beads up and rolls off. So water regularly, and if you see showers or rain in the forecast it's a good idea to water a day or two beforehand so whatever moisture Nature delivers will soak in.

Fingers crossed conditions will change, but in the meantime there may be a bit of relief in sight. Metro Vancouver has indicated water restrictions might lift later in August if the Stanley Park Water Supply Tunnel project is done.

Find a full list of City of Vancouver regulations here, and Surrey’s helpful tips here.

**installing the temporary colours on davie village bus stops.** *(KDM Photo)*

BUS STOP RAINBOWS TEMPORARILY DOWN

The Progressive Pride vinyl installations featured on bus shelters throughout Davie Village have been temporarily removed to allow for reprinting and replacement, given their age and condition.

The refreshed vinyl designs will be installed in advance of this year’s Pride celebrations.

In the interim, a temporary design will be installed on the shelters that reflects the current flag installation in Jim Deva Plaza, helping to maintain a cohesive and welcoming visual presence throughout the Village.

STOP 2030 BARCLAY!
It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over

**the campaign to stop the proposed tower at 2030 barclay returns Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m.** *(Gary durban photo)*

The campaign to stop the construction of a 25-story hotel complex at 2030 Barclay continues, with the sidewalk petition and information table back at the corner of Denman and Nelson is back. Check it out Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. in front of the Shoppers Drugs.

Marcon developers are preparing to resubmit their application, and campaign volunteers attended a “steering committee” meeting organized by Marcon. They were hopeful Marcon had heard community concerns at the three public hearings. Unfortunately, the revised 2030 Barclay proposal is virtually the same as the first round, with only very small tweaks being on offer. A change to the floor plan would see many of the hotel rooms turned to rental apartments. The height and commercial amenities would remain the same.

Campaign organizers say “This is not what we fought so hard for. A 25-storey tower of this size, in this area, with restaurants and bars, next to Stanley Park, a daycare, a dead-end lane and an already chaotic Denman/Lions Gate corridor is not acceptable.”

Read The West End Journal’s original coverage of the proposal here, our update last fall on the campaign to stop the proposal here, and a Viewpoints analysis of the project here.

**A new canada post stamp Honours little sisters.**

HONOURING LITTLE SISTERS
Canada Post Issues A New Stamp

The iconic West End Vancouver bookstore that won a landmark legal battle for gay rights in Canada is being honoured with a new stamp from Canada Post, released last month.

Little Sister's Book & Art Emporium has been a sanctuary and resource for the community since 1983. Twenty-six years ago, the shop won a protracted Charter challenge against border officials who were blocking the business from importing queer-themed materials on the grounds they were "obscene."

The stamp features portraits of Little Sister's founders Jim Deva and Bruce Smyth, along with long-time manager Janine Fuller, who together pursued the decades-long legal case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

The stamp is part of a new seires called “Places of Pride”, which recognizes key Canadian sites in the fight for 2SLGBTQ+ equality.

The design by Kelly Small and illustrations by Tim Singleton also depict the cat Little Sister, for whom the store was named.

West End Street & Lane Names

Located between Comox and Pendrell streets, Jepson-Young Lane runs from Thurlow to Cardero, and from Bidwell to Stanley Park.

Peter Jepson-Young (1957-1992) was a doctor in Vancouver who became famous for promoting AIDS and HIV awareness in the early 1990s. He appeared regularly on CBC-TV with a series called The Dr. Peter Diaries, in which he documented his own life as a person living with AIDS, becoming the face of the tragic epidemic in the eyes of the public.

Ultimately best known simply as Dr. Peter, he was born in New Westminster, raised in Nanaimo and North Vancouver, and graduated from the University of British Columbia in the 1980s. The future was promising for the 29-year-old physician until he was diagnosed with AIDS and given nine to 14 months to live. This was 1986 and the disease was still very much unknown.

After surviving a rare form of pneumonia and two heart attacks in the same year, Dr. Peter slowly recovered and returned to work. But AIDS symptoms returned three years later with an eye infection, eventually turning him blind. The young physician became unable to practice medicine.

He then decided to educate the public about AIDS with his own series – The Dr. Peter Diaries. The show was broadcast nationwide after the evening news on CBC-TV from September 1990 up to his death in November 1992. Throughout the 111 episodes, Dr. Peter showed the world what it meant to be struck by this new, devastating disease.

In 1993, the documentary The Broadcast Tapes of Dr. Peter was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. A biography by journalist Daniel Gawthrop was published in 1994, titled Affirmation: The AIDS Odyssey of Dr. Peter.

The Dr. Peter Centre, caring for persons with HIV and AIDS, on Comox at Thurlow is named in his honour.

Hidden Treasure Hunt

IDENTIFY THIS PHOTO …
And Win A $50 Coffee Shop Gift Card

**can you identify the location of this unique feature? Tell us where!** *(click image to enlarge)*

The first reader to contact editor@thewestendjournal.ca and correctly identify the location of this image will win a $50 gift card to their choice of Blenz, Delaney’s, Melriche’s, Waves, J.J. Bean, or Greenhorn Cafe.

So if you recognize this unique piece of art write in now! Only the winning response will be notified.

The answer, and the clue to the next contest, will appear in our August issue.

The photos and the information in the answers were originally published in TWEJ several years ago as part of our “Hidden Treasures” series by Vancouver author Dianne Maguire.

**A statue of the greek goddess Nike stands at West Cordova and Thurlow** (*Dianne Maguire Photo)*

LAST MONTH’S WINNER IS …
Congratulations Mark Janssen!

On West Cordova at Thurlow. a stunning bronze statue is set on a median that separates Cordova Street. The tall bronze figure of a winged goddess is Nike, the goddess of Victory in the Greek culture, and was created by Greek artist Pavlos Angelos Kougioumtzis.

Nike was donated to the City of Vancouver when Mayor Gregor Robertson and Premier Gordon Campbell were in the City of Olympia (Ancient Olympia), Greece, to inaugurate the Olympic Torch Relay leading up to 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver. The first edition of Nike was donated to Atlanta, Georgia, to mark the centenary of the modern Olympics Games in 1996. Since then other editions have been donated to other cities, including Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012.